They say to really know someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.

"By the fire hydrant, that's where I was standing when they put the gun to my head,” said Frederick Epting.

Abandoned by his parents at the age of 2, Epting grew up homeless on the east side of Springfield, Illinois, an unforgiving place.

"Nobody was ever financially stable. They took me in because they had to. Because somebody they knew begged them to. Stay there a couple months or a couple weeks. They'd get tired of feeding me...they'd talk to their friends. Cycle, cycle, cycle,” Epting said.

The most stable family he found was on the football field, where he stood out as a defensive back at Springfield Southeast High School. But off the field, danger was always lurking.

"I got beat up plenty of times. You in their neighborhood, they're bored, no drugs to sell, we gotta do something."

On May 9, 2012, his walk home almost killed him. Epting was robbed at gunpoint.

"They took my dignity and my property, but it was no big deal," he said.

"Yeah I didn't care about nothing. I survived."

Frederick found his way into a stable situation seven months ago. He moved in with Brian Metz and his wife Erika, the assistant principal of Springfield Southeast High School.

"He would come over in the evenings, if he needed a place to do homework or just have a quiet place to be, or to take a shower. We said if you need a place to stay, we're always willing to help out,” Metz remembered.

Epting said that he wouldn't be able to eat without the people helping him now.

In spite of those challenges, Epting graduated last month with a 4.2 grade point average, and earned a spot on the National Honor Society. It also earned him an academic scholarship to Drake University, where he was recruited to play football.

Signing to play football at Drake only added one more obstacle: The Bulldogs don't have full scholarships for football players. Epting’s grades earned him an academic ride, but that left him $9,000 a year short of the cost of schooling in Des Moines.

Dianne Hennenfent is a teacher at Southeast who heard about the money issue.

"He came in and told me about the $9,000 and he was devastated,” she said.

A friend told her about the fundraising website GoFundMe.com. One Saturday at a local Starbucks, Hennenfent and Epting posted his story with the hopes of making a dent in the $9,000 shortfall.

"I said to Fred 'If we get the 9,000, that's just this year.' He said if you can just get me there, I'll make it work, I promise you I'll make it work,” Hennenfent said.

It was $10 here, $25 there, soon the pledges grew to hundreds of dollars.

"When the page hit $1,000, I took him out of class, and we danced in the hallway,” Hennenfent remembered.

"It just exploded. The goal was 9,000, and it just exploded,” Erika Metz said.

In a matter of weeks, the fund ballooned to $15,000.

As of July 1, the fund had reached $31,000, enough to cover the gap in his bills for more than three years at Drake.

"I feel bad. That kills me inside. That's crazy. That's a blessing, but it’s like wow, you didn't have to do that,” Epting said.

Hennenfent said it’s unreal that it went as far as it did.

With the donations paving the way, Epting and the Metzes came to Drake last month for freshman orientation.

"Erika and I are extremely relieved to know he's going to be able to come here for four years and get an education,” Brian Metz said.

"I tell Fred all the time the sky's the limit, and I don't even think he's taken off yet. He will go far and do great things, I have no doubt,” Erika Metz said.

Epting is back in Springfield now, but will report for football camp on Aug. 5.

"I'm ready, and I'm excited. It was a long road to get here, but you know, I can't stop now.” Epting said.

The NCAA has strict rules against athletes receiving donations from anyone outside of direct family or an established scholarship.

Officials at Drake had to pore over the people who have donated to ensure that no one who gave was affiliated with Drake in any way since that could potentially compromise his eligibility.

The NCAA granted Epting a waiver to keep the cash as long as no one affiliated with Drake donates.